Chapter 44 Chapter 44 The not-so-peaceful New Year's Day.
Early in the morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Duan Zhiwei was preparing to cook a pot of glutinous rice balls for breakfast, but Wu Hou of the Jinwu Guard came to the restaurant. It was unknown what he said to Yuan Shenji. He suddenly stood up, said goodbye to everyone in the restaurant, and then left with a gloomy face.
Pu Tao went back to her room, changed out of her silver-red lotus skirt, and put on an ordinary gray jacket.
Duan Zhiwei was preparing breakfast for everyone. Seeing her change her clothes, he asked, "Why don't you wear new clothes on the first day of the first lunar month?"
Pu Tao picked the largest peach blossom and put it on, saying, "Mrs. Zhu asked me to go to the gathering in front of the Ba Zi Niang Niang Temple. It is said that her people have captured a small Nian beast. Mrs. Zhu told me not to wear red clothes because it would scare the Nian beast."
The area near the Ba Zi Niang Niang Temple is really dangerous. Duan Zhiwei was silent for a moment and replied, "...Then please be careful."
Pu Tao didn't even eat breakfast and walked away happily with his arms swinging.
The remaining few people gathered around the stove and ate a bowl of soy sauce noodle soup. Although it was a bit sweet just watching everyone eat and chat about it.
After eating, Zhen Hui went back to his room to study. Aunt Duan spent the whole morning putting on makeup, with thick black eyebrows and bright red eyebrow and cheeks.
She loved to speak with a smile on her face, so Duan Zhiwei saw her two short and thick eyebrows dancing like moth wings, which seemed to be a little funny.
Duan Zhiwei lowered her head to hide the smile on her lips. Just as she was about to stand up to wash the dishes, she was stopped by Aunt Duan and asked to go to the street for a good stroll.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, there will surely be crowds of tourists outside, admiring the plum blossoms in Leyouyuan and beating the snow bamboos by the Qujiang River. Not to mention the East and West Cities, which serve as the CBD of Chang'an.
Duan Zhiwei was reluctant to do so. It was a rare break in the restaurant, so she planned to curl up by the fire, crack melon seeds, drink red date tea, and read a few strange stories to pass the time.
Ah Pan also wanted to get up and go back to the house, but was stopped by Aunt Duan as well. She asked what was the point of staying in the restaurant on the first day of the first lunar month, and she pulled the two of them onto the donkey cart, and headed towards the East Market in a mighty manner.
As expected, the East Market was packed with people.
The further east you go, the more prosperous the city center is, the better the location is, the more shops there are, and the greater the flow of people. There is a magnificent restaurant, which exudes an enticing aroma of wine and food. There are also clothing shops. In order to attract customers, several pieces of high-quality cloth are hung at the door, including patterns of apricot rain and pear clouds, and patterns of fish writing and wild geese. A Hu chef with his bare chest swung the dough in his hands, deftly filled it with stuffing, sprinkled it with sesame seeds, and put it in the oven to bake.
One of the stalls was particularly eye-catching, with a group of people surrounding it in three layers.
Duan Zhiwei finally squeezed in. I saw a middle-aged man who looked like a foreigner, spreading an exquisite Persian carpet on the ground. The carpet was decorated with gold edges and large palm leaves, and in the middle were large and blooming Damascus roses and Persian pear flowers. It looked so gorgeous and precious that it could be put up for auction at Sotheby's.
He first put his hands together and silently recited something, then enthusiastically invited a woman who was watching, motioning her to step onto the carpet. The woman first touched her hairpin nervously, and her companions pushed her forward with laughter. With some curiosity and uneasiness on her face, she finally stepped onto the Persian carpet reluctantly.
All of a sudden, the roses and Persian pear blossoms on the carpet seemed to come to life, competing to sprout and grow upwards, blooming on the Persian carpet, and when the wind blew, the petals fell in formation. It drew cheers from all around.
Is this the legendary illusion? Duan Zhiwei was shocked and joined the crowd in clapping wildly.
After strolling around the East Market for the whole morning, everyone was a little hungry, so Aunt Duan ran to buy some fried cakes and shared them with everyone.
The golden fried round pancakes were still steaming. Duan Zhiwei took a bite and found that they were fried to the perfect temperature. The crispy shell was so crispy that it fell apart. Inside was a filling of green onions and white radish, but the seasoning was a little bland.
It's understandable. After all, it's Chinese New Year and the prices of various seasonings have gone up a lot. Duan Zhiwei feels a bit painful every time he sprinkles salt.
Aunt Duan beautifully bought a basket of silk hair ornaments and a few fragrant incense boxes, while A Pan bought some colorful silk threads and Duan Zhiwei went into the dried fruit shop.
Fresh cherries are expensive, so Yuan Shenji sent some yesterday, which aroused her craving for cherries. Today, she happened to see a dry goods store, so she went in and bought some cherry preserves and dried cherries sprinkled with crystal sugar grains, as well as a kind of salty-sweet dried fruit called salt and pepper cherries. Perhaps because the fruit was so sour, it was soaked in sugar water for several days, and it was so sweet that Duan Zhiwei felt a little sick.
They had bought everything they needed to buy and were almost done shopping. Duan Zhiwei was about to call the other two back to the restaurant, but Aunt Duan quickly stopped her and said, "Wait."
The cheerful Madam Duan was unusually coy, so Duan Zhiwei asked curiously, "What else?"
Aunt Duan looked back at the ground, then back at the sky: "I heard that the floating brocade worth one tael in the East Market..." She quickly added: "I just went there for fun, not to buy..."
Duan Zhiwei: "Auntie, if you do this, the beautiful Hu woman will be sad."
Aunt Duan said a little embarrassedly: "I'm just looking at it, I'm not really buying it."
Duan Zhiwei had no choice but to follow her to the end of the East Market while making promises to her: "When the restaurant business is good, you can buy the brocade for one tael of silver. You can also buy the Suzhou embroidery if you want it."
The result of drawing too many cakes was that others began to decline the offer. Aunt Duan did not respond to her, but instead pulled her and A Pan forward.
It was clearly New Year's Day, but the East Market was particularly deserted. Several wine shops, fruit shops, and clothing shops were closed. Only an old woman was sitting on a couch with her hands kicked up to bask in the sun.
Where is Fu Guang Jin? Where are the Chang'an ladies who were fighting for it?
Aunt Duan hurried over to ask the old woman, who looked her over and said, "She was taken away by someone dressed in official uniform a few days ago. I guess she got into some legal trouble."
Duan Zhiwei inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief, while Aunt Duan felt very disappointed.
A few of them drove the donkey cart back to Duan's restaurant. Zhen Hui was waiting at the door, stamping his feet anxiously.
"What's wrong?" Aunt Duan looked at him and smiled, "Don't worry, I bought you two sheep-hair brushes in the East Market for you to use during the Spring Examination."
Zhen Hui's face was filled with anxiety: "Now is not the time to talk about that. Someone came to look for Madam Duan and has been sitting inside for a while."
"Who is it? It's New Year's Day. No matter what business it is, I won't take it." Duan Zhiwei was still sitting on the donkey cart eating her dried cherries. She also bought some storybooks in the East Market and planned to read them slowly during the New Year.
Zhen Hui replied, "He is wearing eunuch's clothes, so he must be someone from the palace."
Duan Zhiwei had a mouthful of dried cherries stuck in his throat.
Several people hurriedly jumped off the donkey cart, straightened their clothes and went into the restaurant.
Several guards in official uniforms were standing inside, and a white-faced man in eunuch uniform was sitting. "Master Si is back. You made us wait so long."
Duan Zhiwei saw the legendary eunuch for the first time and looked at him in amazement. But Aunt Duan was quick-witted. She went up to him and stuffed a purse full of copper coins into his pocket, then apologized with a smile.
The eunuch stood up with satisfaction and said, "Princess Wanfu has just got a piece of floating brocade, which she has woven into a hundred-bird skirt. She wants to have a banquet. I wonder which official lady mentioned the delicious milk tea made at the Duan family restaurant. Let's go, Madam Duan. If this meal is a success, the princess will definitely reward you."
Duan Zhiwei was actually not very willing to do so. Although the royal reward was generous, if the princess was not satisfied with the prepared milk tea, it would be a matter of losing her head.
But if she refused directly, she would definitely lose her head, so she had to raise a stiff fake smile and said, "Thanks to the princess's trust, I will go to the princess's mansion this time."
The princess was not in the mansion, but in Qingyun Temple, the largest Taoist temple in Chang'an. It was hidden in the Zhongnan Mountains and was shrouded in smoke all year round. Perhaps because the princess was there, there were a bunch of heavily guarded Qianniu guards at the door, and eunuchs were required to hold tokens to enter.
However, even though it is a Taoist temple, the dining room here is several times larger than the Duan family restaurant. The cooking room is very spacious and has already begun to operate in full swing. Duan Zhiwei was sweating as soon as he was led in by the eunuch.
The eunuch called over a person who looked like a cook. "This is a chef invited from the restaurant. The prince of Wang family of Langya recommended her to the princess. She was specially invited to cook. Find an empty stove for her."
The cook agreed readily. She pointed to an empty stove and asked Duan Zhiwei to go over.
Duan Zhiwei moved the firewood and began to fuel the stove. While the pot was still hot, he turned to look at the fire room. The cooks were busy with their own work, and the sounds of chopping and cutting continued. A large steamer was placed on a stove that was as tall as a person, and steam was wafting in with bursts of rich and sweet fragrance.
The back door of the fire room was wide open. From Duan Zhiwei's point of view, he could see a tall chef carefully roasting a whole lamb over the fire.
The most interesting thing was that a maid came in with a mahogany plate in her hand. On the plate was a large piece of ice. A butcher came hurriedly to take it, picked up a planer and shaved the ice into ice chips, put them into a colorful glazed cup, poured a thin layer of sugarcane juice on top, and garnished it with some fresh fruits.
Her Royal Highness the Princess really knows how to enjoy herself, eating icy Sushan in the middle of winter.
Duan Zhiwei sighed.
Fortunately, the fire room here has all the ingredients, and rare fruits such as cherries, grapes, and lychees are available at any time. Duan Zhiwei took some rose flowers, osmanthus honey, pears, jasmine, etc., put them into a ceramic pot and simmered them slowly.
Milk tea is easy to make, unlike roasting a whole lamb, which requires burning body and soul to make. Duan Zhiwei does not expect to receive any reward, he just wants to return home safely.
On the other side, Princess Wanfu was wearing a Taoist robe made of pearl-gray gauze, and her hair was tied up with a Hetian jade hairpin. She did not look like a princess at all, and her face was gentle, making her look amiable.
The ladies of the imperial family and some elegant scholars who were familiar with the princess had already taken their seats. The one closest to Princess Wanfu was Yuan Shenji's good friend, Wang Qian of the Wang family of Langya.
He had just returned from a trip to the south of the Yangtze River and told the princess some interesting anecdotes.
The princess found this quite interesting and shook her head: "Wang of Langya is the most respected family in China. You don't care about fame and fortune, but are only interested in this. I think your sister in the palace must be worried."
Wang Qian didn't mind at all, he stroked his beard and laughed, "Everyone has their own aspirations."
He didn't seem to want to go into the topic further. He rolled his eyes and said, "Has the lady from the Duan family, who has had many adventures, whom I recommended to the princess, been invited?"
The eunuch who was waiting on the side bowed and nodded: "I invited you here early this morning. I am making milk tea in the fire room now."
The princess was in a good mood today: "Let her come over and give her a seat."
She stroked her nails that were dyed with phoenix lilies and said, "The reason why the king strongly recommended this lady is probably not just because of those strange stories."
Wang Qian stood up and saluted: "Princess, you are very intelligent. I can only aspire to be as smart as you."
He kept the secret a secret and then said, "A few days ago, the Minister of the Central Secretariat was trying to marry his eldest daughter to Yuan Shenji of the Jinwu Guard, but he was rejected. I remember the princess was sighing, 'The Cui family doesn't want a lady of that appearance and character, so is Yuan Shenji going to marry a fairy from heaven?'"
The princess was originally leaning on the beauty couch. She must have been really interested after hearing this and sat up straight: "I see... Then I want to take a good look at the Duan family's lady. How stunningly beautiful she is that she bewitched that cold and unromantic man."
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